Choices
by DELETE MY ACCOUNT ALREADY
Summary: Ichigo starts to have feelings for Kisshu although she is still going out with Masaya. Now what? Read to find out and please review! Flames welcome. I will use them to bake cookies in my magical story oven.


**STRANGER **

**A.N./ I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew and the characters. Or VersaEmerge's song "Stranger." So no lawsuits please. Anyway I originally wrote this as a songfic but it's against the guidelines and the Eliminations department (yes you, Mr. Perfectionist) gave me a nasty review because of it. So now I got rid of the lyrics and you will have to listen to the song to understand exactly what I'm talking about half the time. And don't flame me for any name drops of song titles. Sometimes that just happens.**

**Ichigo's POV**

"Ichigo!"

Ichigo whirled around to face whoever was calling her name and was caught in a hug. "Masaya!" She smiled. No one would care if her cat ears would pop out now. It had been seven months since the aliens left, and there had been no enemies since. Maybe the occasional chimera anima now and then, but that was it. "I missed you." Masaya's reply was a gentle kiss on the cheek. The bell rang, and Masaya said, "I should go." He released Ichigo from his embrace. Ichigo sighed. "I love you. See you later," she said. She caught a glimpse of Masaya's smile, but this time it had a hint of something else in it. Hurt? Confusion, maybe?

Ichigo sprinted to class the next day and slid into the room just as the bell rang and Ogawa-sensei, the music teacher, walked in. "Momomiya-san! Why are you tardy? It's the second day in a row you've been late!" he asked.

"Gomen…" She exchanged her new back-to-school messenger bag in the cubby room for her alto saxophone and music folder, then set up her stand and chair and started sucking on a reed. **A.N./ you guys are wondering "since when are Ichigo and Masaya in band? My logic: Masaya kind of seems like a clarinet person to me and as for Ichigo, Pudding and Masaya convinced her to join and her parents made her, haha... **Masaya was not in her music class this year, he had moved on to a higher level band. Ichigo sighed. _At least I have Pudding._ Pudding was a fellow Mew Mew and band buddy who had taken up the baritone so she could add another instrument to her park performance routine. _Maybe it's a good thing Aoyama-kun's not in any of my classes. It would be sort of awkward, because I'm just not as in love with him as I used to be. I guess our long distance relationship didn't work so well. _Ichigo and her mom left England three months before Masaya, so they had to resort to email and video call. The absence had left their relationship a bit strained.

"Momomiya-san!" Ogawa-sensei's voice interrupted her thoughts. "D Major scale, please."

_Oh, no. not more scales. How does everyone expect me to memorize them all? _"D." She looked up at the chromatic scale written on the board. _Two sharps._ "E, F-sharp, G,A,B,C…sharp, D."

"I see you've taken the time to learn one scale. Fong-san! E-flat Major!" Pudding rattled off the scale as fast as she could talk. _It's not fair you're good at everything. You're smart and athletic and resourceful, and I'm not any of those.I don't even know myself. Do I still love Masaya? Maybe not but do I love Kisshu? No. What am I doing in my life?_

Ichigo greeted Moe and Miwa outside the mall. "How's it going with Masaya?" Moe asked.

"Good," she replied. "He ditched me for the other band." She laughed.

Miwa frowned. "No. what really happened? Forgive me if I sound inappropriate, but what really went on with you guys lately? You're not as fangirly as usual."

"What do you mean?"

"Like, how far did you two go?" Moe giggled diabolically.

Ichigo blushed. _Perverts. _"I saw him for the first time since I left today. We kissed right before the end of lunch. And you guys know my mom and his parents were supervising us in England."

"Are you still hot for him?"

"Um…sure. He's a good guy, unlike some others and he's probably the only one my parents would let me go out with…" _why did I say that? Maybe I DO love Kisshu and I'm just not admitting it to myself._

"Come on, let's go guy-scoping. I'm tired of shopping. Ichigo, you have a boyfriend already. No flirting for you."

_Why am I friends with them? They were the ones who were hoping I would go all the way with him at Christmas._** (A.N./ episode 37.)**_ Like how Zakuro and Keiichiro and all those other church people say how bad company corrupts good character. Are they making me lose my values? If I giggle when a different guy checks me out is that cheating? If I'm still going out with Masaya then why do I want to be with Kisshu? Why can't I trust myself?_

Ichigo turned the idea around in her head that night as she struggled to fall asleep. usually she was out like a light but tonight, she had too much on her mind, spinning and flashing in waves of iridescent color. _Do I break up with him then? I know I'm sort of needy, but if I don't love him them should we still go out? If we break up then who do I go out with? Do I love him? I'm a little bored with Masaya._ She shoved the cruel thought to the back of her head. _No I'm just going through a phase. Maybe I'm PMS-ing. _It was the lamest excuse she could come up with. _Well I kind of do want to know what it's like to have a different type of guy. Then again, the only one who's so "different" that I'd want is Kisshu._

That night Ichigo dreamed she was on a date with Kisshu. He called her Koneko-chan and kissed her passionately. She awoke refreshed and energized after her dream date **(A.N./ Haha! I love lame puns) **yet she still felt as if something was wrong. "Good morning, Ichigo," said her mother when she came downstairs for breakfast. "did you have pleasant dreams, my sweet strawberry?"

"I didn't have any dreams," Ichigo lied.

"Do you have any dates scheduled? You haven't been out with Masaya for a while."

Ichigo could feel droplets of cold sweat forming. "No. He hasn't scheduled anything yet. Maybe he's busy with classes."

"So you don't love him anymore? And you want to end the relationship?" asked Zakuro over tea and cookies after work.

"Well…"

"Long-distance is kind of hard. Me and Pai, he said he might visit me but we haven't seen each other at all. It's natural that you'd get cold feet after a long distance. Why don't you ask him out?"

"But I'm not sure I love him anymore."

"Why not? Do you have feelings for another guy?"

Ichigo blushed.

"Ah, I see."

"But are you saying I should break up with him?"

"Think. Ask him out. Talk a little more and see how it goes. Then talk to me."

Ichigo strolled through Inohara Park, holding hands with Masaya. "So, you said you love me?" she tried to sound lighthearted.

"Of course I do. But do you love me?"

Ichigo giggled and kissed Masaya, still wearing the mask of love. They walked through the park. Ichigo thought hard. _Is this really right for me? Is Masaya my fairy tale prince? I'm definitely more of a good person when we're going out. Now that we had to do long-distance I've reverted back to my old, aimless self. I don't listen to the right people. Do I? _they sat down on a bench hidden by bushes. Masaya put his arm around Ichigo's shoulders. "How much do you love me?" she asked playfully.

Masaya laughed and kissed her on the lips. _I don't deserve this. He's too good for me. Not that Kisshu's worse but he seems like the one who would make me happy right now._

Ichigo felt her head split in two as she analyzed the two sides of herself, one good and one bad. The good side was the one she'd been listening to more often as she was with better people, but the bad side fought to take control. It was the part of her that wanted to push it a little farther and see how Masaya liked it, or break up with him and find another guy. She decided to look into herself. But whenever she followed her impulses, she ended up doing something stupid. Like sinking into quicksand, and she was sinking lower and lower. _What's wrong with me? Why can't I be set free from this? I shouldn't be thinking these thoughts. I should be with friends who have good values and with Masaya instead of some other "hot" guy. Ahem, Kisshu. What's the right thing to do? And is doing the right thing really worth it all?_

**Read and Review. Flames welcome, any flames will be used to bake cookies in my magical story oven.**


End file.
